


Hating You, Hating Me

by Haza_Souz



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, M/M, descriptions of physical sickness and unpleasant imagery, this entire story is one little building block in the wall of a less depressed sasuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 20:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15648306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haza_Souz/pseuds/Haza_Souz
Summary: AU - Naruto won at the Valley of the End.





	Hating You, Hating Me

“The Uchiha is inside and awake. You have ten minutes visitation.”

Shallowly, Sasuke heard the voice of the nurse trickle through the door. He wanted to stop thinking, seeing, to be numb to the world once more. Naruto had dragged him away from the path, had used that strange, unearthly chakra of orange and malice to crush him like a bug, and the curse mark had remained inactive-

The boy sat up quickly, turned his head aside, and threw up; watery and lumpy, his stomach trying to give some kind of form to the crushing feeling of hating himself and his own selfish stupidity by convulsing and upending itself. Only the prisoner’s rations he’d been given since waking up came out.

He coughed, the gross bile striking at his tongue and nose.

“Yo… Sasuke?”

Sasuke hated himself more than anything, right now; time pinned to a bed by a sealing mark had let his mind wallow in self-pity and realise the childish, whiny fit he had thrown. “More special”. He’d tossed and screamed his anger at the ceiling at the beginning, then they’d sealed his arms to the mattress to stop him choking himself.

A hand entered his vision, and he turned his head to glower bitterly at Naruto – blond, stupid, powerful Naruto.

“What?”

The venom of his voice was as wretched as the sick he’d coughed up a moment ago. Naruto’s face fell, before Sasuke saw the mask of cheer go back onto his teammate’s face.

“Just checking in on you! Oh, they only let one person at a time in, otherwise Sakura’d be in here-“

“What do you want?”

“…You to be like you were.” Naruto looked down, his face saying something Sasuke couldn’t decipher, eyebrows creased and eyes half-closed as though he were tired.

“I always was like this!” Sasuke barked twice with mad laughter. “I always, since day one, wanted to go hunting for Itachi! And Kakashi just tried to tear me away, kept me cooped up, and then you and that other idiot-“

“Don’t call her an idiot!” The idiot was finally angry! Sasuke grinned angrily, arms twitching, wanting a rematch. “You can call me anything, but don’t call her an idiot! You got that?”

“Oh really?! Loser! Sakura’s an idiotic stupid loser-“

The blow he saw coming without the Sharingan, and for a sick second right after Naruto’s fist hit him he felt happy – then the pain hit, throbbing at his cheek, making him wince.

“You don’t get to say that about her. She just wanted you back, because she liked you, and she was having fun being Team Seven.” Naruto spoke in a low, angry voice, and his blue eyes drilled into Sasuke’s black ones with the same ferocity that had burned in the Valley of the End. “I went after you because bringing her back would make her happy, so I’m the selfish idiot here, if anything.”

“Tch!” That burned. Worse than the hit, and worse than the bile. He’d been beaten by someone who didn’t really give a shit? “Should have just let me drown, idiot.”

Naruto started breathing in to reply, then stopped, staring at Sasuke as the young wannabe-rogue lay there under bedsheets covered in elaborate sealing and paralysis spirals.

Sasuke smiled at first, then felt his gross joy drain slowly as the blond refused to rise to the bait. He tried a sneer, but it fell, and then, _oh, shit_ , Sasuke tried to turn his head away before the dead-eyed look crawled back into his expression.

“…Why are you so angry at yourself, Sasuke?”

The young ninja was looking away, but the smallness, the tiny crack in Naruto’s voice let him paint the sight of Naruto’s despairing and concerned stare clearly in his mind’s eye, even when he tried to close his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” An embarrassing attempt. He shouldn’t have bothered – even Naruto could see through it.

“You’re angry at your brother, yeah, I can see that. You’re mad for now at Kakashi, you’re definitely mad at me, and I bet you’re pissed off at Orochimaru for… not coming and getting you himself, maybe?” He was leaning over, eyes searching Sasuke’s face for any tremor at his guesses. “But you seem so angry at yourself the most, Sasuke. You’re trying to make me hit you, right?”

“Trying?,” Sasuke mocked hollowly.

“I’m an idiot, you tell me that every day.” Naruto gave a weak chuckle – oh, damn him to hell and back, Sasuke couldn’t stop a tiny quirk of the lips even through his deadened state. They lapsed into silence, Sasuke staring at the ceiling and past it, Naruto biting his lip and nervously shifting his weight.

“…Whose fault is it that I’m stuck here, right now?”

Naruto sighed deeply.

“Sasuke…”

The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to begin saying something, anything, and suddenly the abyss opened up between them, and it felt like Naruto was looking down at him from far, far further up than a metre. How to begin? Where to even try to tackle everything?

No, Naruto would laugh – he was Uchiha Sasuke, the class genius, gifted, orphaned, and composed. The worst thing he could do was expose himself right now; it’d leave his broken spirit far too exposed and tender to someone else, and so Sasuke closed his mouth. He was quickly aware of the plaintive, desperate stare up at Naruto’s wide, careful eyes, and closed his mouth again, turning away.

“Sasuke?”

Sasuke sighed. He was suddenly tired.

“Just… just go. Leave me alone.”

“I won’t.” Yes! What? Why had he been excited to hear that? Sasuke looked back over, seeing Naruto pick up a simple soothing cream and begin to apply it to the forgotten, aching bruise on Sasuke’s cheek. “I’m a member of Team Seven. You are too. You’re my friend. Got it?”

Sasuke couldn’t even think the words ‘thank you’. Did he want that, even? The cold, painfully pleasant cream began to work its magic, and he felt the cheek blush lightly where Naruto’s hand touched it.

“Oh-“ Naruto caught sight of the clock and jumped. “Uh, I’m out of time. I guess I’ll like… try to come back?”

Why would you come back? For me? Why did you go in the first place? I want to know more about you.

“So, yeah, I think Sakura is next in line, and Kakashi’s looking to talk, too. Try to be awake, okay, bastard?” The last word had an affectionate quirk of the eyes to it as it left Naruto’s mouth. Sasuke felt drained, even more tired than at any of the things the Curse Mark had put him through, but he managed a tiny, dead nod. His mouth was hanging open slightly, he knew, but the will to move it or fix it was nothing he could muster up. “Um.. see you.”

I want to talk with you, and I want you not to laugh at me.

Sasuke lifted his head up and began to say something, safely after Naruto had left the room; then he slumped back and stared up at the ceiling again.

“Naruto…”

Uchiha Sasuke felt like he was sinking into a bog, and it wasn’t even going to kill him.

But at least he didn’t feel sick any more.


End file.
